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THE LUNAR DATA PROJECT - RESTORATION OF APOLLO DATA FOR FUTURE LUNAR EXPLORATION. David R. Williams1 and Edwin J. Grayzeck, Jr.2, 1QSS Group, Inc., NSSDC, Code 690.1, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, [email protected], 2NSSDC, Code 690.1, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, [email protected]

At the close of the 1960's and beginning of currently being funded by an internal Goddard the 1970's, NASA's Apollo project landed six Space Flight Center grant. astronaut missions on the Moon. Five of these The data were selected for their relevance to (Apollos 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) set up long- science and exploration by a group of scientists lived instrument suites, the Apollo Lunar and engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center. Surface Experiment Packages, or ALSEPs, on This Lunar Data Evaluation Team studied and the lunar surface. These packages operated discussed the data available at NSSDC and autonomously and transmitted data back to Earth determined which were most suitable for until 1977. The data, meant primarily for restoration based on their relevance to future evaluation of the engineering aspects of lunar lunar exploration, scientific value of the data, bases, represent the only long-term information and difficulty of restoration. The selected data on the lunar surface environment, and as such being resurrected by the LDP include data from are ideal for planning future lunar missions. the ALSEP experiments: the Suprathermal Ion Unfortunately, much of these data are stored Detector Experiment, the Cold Cathode Ion in cumbersome forms which make them Gauge, the Charged Particle Lunar Environment inaccessible to most users. The data were Experiment, the Solar Wind Spectrometer, the examined in the 1970's but have not been widely Soil Mechanics Experiment, and the Dust, used since that time. Much of the data would be Thermal, and Radiation Engineering amenable to methods of analysis and advances Measurements Package. There are also data in hardware that have been developed in the from orbital experiments: the Lunar Particle intervening years. If the data were more readily Shadows and Boundary Layer Experiment, the available and usable in today's environment, Alpha Particle Spectrometer, and the Far- they could provide a wealth of information for Ultraviolet Spectrometer. The staff of the LDP scientific studies and planning for future lunar are largely NSSDC personnel, and so have exploration. familiarity with the data and experience working The Lunar Data Project (LDP) is an effort to with older media and formats. take relevant, scientifically important ALSEP Metadata, ancillary information to aid in the and other Apollo data archived at the National use and understanding of the data, will also be Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), which produced and incorporated in the database. This holds the most complete collection of these data, will include complete descriptions of the data and put it into a digital form which can be used sets, formats, processing history, and relevant by researchers and mission planners. Data in references and contacts, as well as descriptions analog form, on microfilm, microfiche, of the instruments used to collect the data, photographic film, or hard copy documents, are mission history, and any other information being digitized. Digital data in older, rarely used deemed necessary to make full use of the data. formats are being recast into more general At the end of this multi-year effort we will have formats (typically ASCII tables). All these data the LEED fully populated with relevant data and will then be put online in a Lunar Exploration associated metadata which will be easily Enabling Database (LEED) in CDF (Common accessible to interested users from the lunar Data Format). LEED will provide multiple scientific and exploration communities. This pathways and search capabilities for the data, as poster will discuss the digitization of one dataset well as display tools. The data will also be (CCIG) and outline progress on the overall submitted to the Planetary Data System (PDS) project. for validation and archiving. This effort is